Overview
- Police identified the victim as 11-year-old Madelyn Eitas of Rochester, Massachusetts, who was visiting Utah with her family.
- The avalanche struck just after noon near Brighton Ski Resort in an area police said was outside resort boundaries, prompting responses from ski patrol and county search-and-rescue teams.
- Family members and about 20 nearby citizens began searching immediately, and her brother used a phone application to help locate her.
- An airlift was deemed too risky due to unstable conditions, and she was taken by ambulance in critical condition before dying at a hospital.
- Officials said she was the only person caught in the slide, and the school district is offering counseling and requesting privacy as local police, the U.S. Forest Service and the Utah Avalanche Center investigate.